African athletes keep going missing at global sporting events

African athletes at the Commonwealth Games in Australia have been in the news for action on and off the track.

The haul of 34 gold medals won by African athletes has been overshadowed by headlines of at least 13 athletes from Cameroon, Uganda, Rwanda and Sierra Leone absconding from team camps. It’s a recurring scenario for hosts of minor to major sporting events held in wealthier nations. For Australia, it happened in 2006 when Melbourne hosted the Commonwealth Games and 2000 when Sydney hosted the Olympics.

The most common reason for this, as with many migrants, is the search for a better life. Even for pro athletes in many African countries, wealthy and more developed countries remain a major draw. Occasionally, athletes make the move to escape political repression back home. The most recent example came at the 2016 Rio Olympics when Feyisa Lilesa, an Ethiopian marathoner, crossed his arms in anti-government protest.

GOING, GOING…

African athletes keep going missing at global sporting events and it’s only going to get worse.

Even though the competition has wrapped up, missing athletes officially have until May 15—when their visas expire—to make plans that allow them to remain in Australia. An obvious option would be to apply for asylum but a successful application will depend on being able to cite valid basis of a threat to life in their home countries. Already, a migration agency operating on the Gold Coast says “more than 40 people,” including Commonwealth Games athletes from Africa, have so far come in to discuss potential visa options to allow them to remain in Australia.

The nuclear option would be staying on illegally after the visa expires and, without valid documentation, likely turning to menial jobs to earn money.

For many athletes, applying as part of a team delegation to major sporting events offers a much higher chance of securing visas and traveling safelyand for free. Back home, mismanagement, corruption, and poor welfare packages, as well as sub-par training facilities, often mean being an athlete is not the most lucrative livelihood. As a result, African athletes, and at times officials, have routinely gone missing at sporting events hosted in more developed nations—21 members of African delegations went missing or claimed asylum after the London Olympics in 2012.

Yomi Kazeem is a reporter at Quartz, covering Africa-specific stories on politics and how it intersects with business, innovation, startups, and culture. He graduated from Babcock University with a degree in International Law and Diplomacy. He has previously worked with leading African media platforms as a columnist and contributor.

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